There’s a lot going on at factory farms that the owners don’t want us to see — and they’ve just won the right to keep it all secret.

That’s the sad result of a ruling last week by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which no doubt has executives in the pork and poultry industry celebrating. They can rest assured that the public won’t get even a glimpse of what they’re doing to the hundreds of millions of animals in their captivity.

The ruling will have the effect of preventing clandestine investigators — including journalists and animal advocates — from making false statements in order to go undercover on factory farms. It overturns a lower-court ruling that found a provincial law preventing such exposés violated free speech guarantees in the Charter.

So, as a result of the upper court ruling, there will likely be no more undercover exposés. Secrecy will prevail.

That secrecy is crucial to maintaining the gap between two conflicting realities that exist today — on one hand, there is a growing sensitivity toward animals, as humans increasingly understand them to be sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, sadness, joy and grief.

On the other hand,........

© rabble